Kingdom Hearts: Sound of Destiny
by Lithirin
Summary: Sora, Riku, and King Mickey realize that Donald Duck, Goofy, and Kairi have gone missing. A mysterious new enemy, the Unsound, are behind it. Sora and Riku battle their way through worlds to rescue their friends, and realize their feeling
1. Chapter 1: Measure the Year

_Kingdom Hearts: Sound of Destiny_

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Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or the characters (except the ones I've made for this story), in anyway, as Square Enix owns it. The worlds, and characters that belong to those worlds, appearing later in the story are owned by Disney.

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_Chapter 1: Measure the Year_

This was always the best part of Summer, getting to leave reality behind at home while spending the whole day dreaming with the friends that mattered the most. Sora always looked forward to rowing away from the main island, out across the vibrant blue waters to their favorite place to play. Somehow, life with just Riku and Kairi beside him was never boring or exhaustive; there was always something to do between the three of them. Yes, indeed, this was the best part of life since Sora and Riku had come home from their last adventure.

A whole year had passed since the beginning of Sora's last escapade through the other worlds, accompanied by his friends Donald Duck and Goofy. They had traveled through Twilight Town and Radiant Garden and all the other worlds, searching for Riku and Kairi and King Mickey, battling the heartless and the nobodies, defeating Organization XIII, and finally Sora returned to the islands with Riku. The year had been calm, no signs of an ensuing fight, no stars lost into the vast expanse of darkness that fell across the sky each night, and Sora was joyful to have made it to his 16th birthday with no threats to his home.

The sound of wood hitting wood startled the brown-haired boy back into the moment. Jumping out of the boat and onto the dock, he noticed a girl with red hair that flipped out at the bottom in three directions leaning against a pole, staring across the beach towards the bridge that connected this island to the rock that Sora and Riku and often play fought.

"Hi, Selphie," Sora said once he had dropped next to her the sand.

"Oh!" she said,jumping a little at the voice and soft thump that had driven her train of thought of its tracks, "Oh, Sora, it's you. Hi." Her eyes looked him over for a second before she turned her gaze back towards the bridge. "Riku and Kairi are in the cove."

"Figures," Sora said under his breath. "Thanks," he finished, loud enough for the girl to hear. As he walked towards the other end of the beach, Sora smiled a little to himself. Tidus and Wakka were having a scrimmage on the bridge, which was exactly what Selphie had been watching so intently; she was more than a little interested in Wakka. Of course, Wakka was a little too dense to notice, which everyone joked was because he had been hit in the head with his blitz ball a few too many times.

"Hey, Sora! You wanna have go next?" Wakka called down, " I can take it eas - Oophm." His sentence had been cut off by Tidus's wooden sword striking him in hard in the stomach. Wakka's red hair, that flipped up in the front, looked rather like a bird's tail as he doubled over from the blow to his trunk. Tidus, as blond as ever, smiled triumphantly down at Sora and waved.

"Nah, I'm going to the cove. Maybe when you're ass hasn't just been kicked," replied Sora, a hint of laughter in his voice. He continued on, passing under the bridge and coming to the door that lead to the cove. _'Well, Riku, Kairi, things are just the way the used to be, huh?' _he thought as he opened the door.

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A head of ridiculously spikey brown hair emerged from the door that connected the two sides of the island, and Riku grinned as he turned towards Kairi and leaned closer to her. "Not a word," he whispered to her, and laughed a little when she nodded.

"Sora, you bum, what took you so long?" teased Kairi, her smile touching her eyes.

"I slept in, Kairi. It is summer you know," replied Sora in a tone that showed he understood she was just messing with him but still implied he was a bit serious.

Riku's long silver hair rustled as a breeze blew the salty air around them. His hand instinctively reached up and brushed the hair away from his face, and he smiled as memories of two years ago came back to him. This would have been a perfect day to set sail on that raft they had built then... The smile fell from his face as the darkness forced its way into his thoughts, his head shaking as though trying to force them out. A nudge to his side shattered the dark memories, causing him to look at the curious face in front of his eyes.

"Did you hear me?" Riku shook his and forced a smile for Sora. The spikey-haired boy sighed a little and repeated, "Want to race? You know, just for old time's sake."

Endorphins coursed through his body, a natural high from chemical processes, enough to distract Riku from the mix of memories that had been bothering him since they had returned home. He lost sight of Sora as the other boy climbed up the tower to the zip line, while he himself continued down the beach. The feeling of shifting sand beneath him, the salt air, and just being with the two people he cared about most pumped in his veins, mixed with his blood, giving off a constant supply of energy that kept him going. He climbed up the slope, jumped across the ledges and touched the star tree, just seconds before Sora leaped towards it. Apparently Sora had miscalculated, as he slammed into Riku, knocking them both back into the tree.

A laugh forced its way from Riku as Kairi came up the slope, her eyes a little wider than usual as she took in the scene before her. Riku was sitting against the tree, Sora hugging his stomach, their legs interlocked awkwardly. Sora wriggled his way out of the knot and muttered about whatever the score was now, forcing another laugh from Riku. He suggested calling a draw, to which Sora looked up and grinned.

Standing up, the silver haired boy rotated his shoulders to make sure they still worked, and offered his hand to help his younger companion. His eyes drifted from Sora out to the ocean. Sunlight danced on the water's surface, warm spots in the icy expanse. "How long?" he asked softly, looking straight forward, away from his friends.

"What?" Kairi responded, moving to stand next to him, her gaze following his.

"How long do you think things will stay like this? Calm and... together?" he said, both his face and voice sullen and worried.

Sora walked to Riku's other side, placing his hand lightly on the older boy's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Riku. When it happens again, if it does, we can take care of it, just like before."

Riku's face turned now towards his feet, hiding the obvious look of deep consideration from his friends. They had no idea what it had been like, losing himself so easily to the darkness, losing them along the way. Guilt had been planted within him, had been growing steadily each day, and now it felt to Riku as though he were carrying a pumpkin in his chest. _'I promise.... This time...'_

"This time, I with you guys. no matter what." he finished out loud, the firmness in his voice reflected in his tensing muscles. His gaze turned to Sora and Kairi in turn, a smile given to each of them as a way of promising he was alright. "Come on. I bet we can get a tournament going with the others back on the sea shore. Winner gets the loser's lunch."

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Sora sat on the dock, watching the final match between Riku and Wakka. The red headed boy threw his blitz ball with force, and Riku would hold up his sword to block it. A few times the ball caught Riku's arm or side, causing him to slow down for a second before retaliating with a strong blow to Wakka's arms. It surprised Sora how much both of them had strengthened over the last two years. But he supposed all of them had had the chance to become stronger... The match between Sora and Riku had lasted longer than any before, each of them skillfully attacking and counter-attacking, and it ended all because Sora had slipped up, literally. His feet had slipped in the sand, sending him face-first up the beach, towards Riku's feet.

Now, watching from the outside, it was clear just how much skill the silver haired boy had. Each motion was calculated, playing to his strengths and his opponent's weaknesses. His sword struck the blitz ball, and this time it was flung at Wakka's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Wakka doubled over, and raised his hand in defeat as he caught his breath. Kairi and Selphie had jumped up to congratulate Riku, while Tidus checked to make sure his friend was alright. Sora hung back on the dock, smiling a little to himself. He was just starting to realize the appreciation he really held for fighting skills; it was something he knew and relied on.

The excitement died down after a few minutes. Wakka had regained his composure, now talking with Selphie and Tidus about something, and Riku and Kairi had joined Sora on the dock. The three of them were sitting with their feet dangling over the edge, staring at where the sunset met with ocean, melting together into one image of the sky. The spiky-haired boy had briefly congratulated his older friend, and then they had fallen into a comfortable silence, waiting until they absolutely had to go home. Finally the sun was half hidden by the water, and they could no longer avoid the trip home. They said their "See ya later"s and rowed back to the main island.

A neon star illuminated the room where Sora sat, staring out the window next to his bed. His stomach felt suddenly knotted, but he shrugged it off, convinced he was just hungry; Riku had gotten his lunch after their match and had eaten before his next round. Sora's mind reflected back to Riku's promise. Something about his friend's face and voice when he had made the promise to be on their side had slightly unsettled Sora. It seemed that Riku doubted himself more than he was concerned about helping them. Sora felt that Riku wouldn't lose himself again, but it was probably just strong wishing.

He sighed a little and turned off the light, blankly watching the stars twinkling in the sky. Slowly, his mind drifted off, retracing the worlds he'd been to, recounting the time he'd spent searching for his dearest friends with his newer friends, remembering the brief instant of hope he'd felt back in Traverse Town when Riku had been there... Throughout the night he slept restlessly, the past displaying itself vividly, images of the battles he'd faced, the friends he'd made, every detail as real as it had been back then. Somehow, Sora could watch this all now and only think about how he'd changed since the beginning.

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It was with a knot still in his stomach that Sora docked his boat back on the island. He couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened that night. Both Riku and Kairi's boats were there too, but Sora twitched a little when he saw one set of foot prints heading across the beach, and one heading to the secret place. The sun had barely touched the waterfall yet. For both of them to be there that early was unusual. A long shadow stretched towards him, and when Sora looked up, it was Riku who was looking back at him.

"Where's Kairi?" Sora and Riku asked at the same exact moment. A silence fell between them as the sense of deja vu made their hearts skip. Two years ago, Sora had found Riku, but Kairi was gone, taken as a Princess of Heart. Sora looked up at his silver-haired companion, his face crestfallen. If darkness came and swallowed them up it would mean that everything they had done would have been for nothing. Everything would have gone back to the way it had been before they defeated the Organization and sealed the Door to Darkness.

The brown-haired boy jumped when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. His vision had gone blurry, trying to look through Riku, but now he could clearly see his friend's face, a very soft and concerned smile there.

"Remember my promise?" Sora nodded and forced a smile. "Good. C'mon... I think I know where to look for now." Riku removed his hand from Sora's shoulder and turned up the beach, towards the Secret Place. Again, Sora's heart skipped. What was going on? How could something like this have happened again? He had found his friends just to go back and do it again.

_'This is just __**so**__ fantastic,'_ he thought as he followed Riku to the base of the tree, where everything had started the last time.

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_A/N: Poor Wakka just keeps getting beat up.... Anyways, I meant for this to end up kind of like a book version of a video game, but this exact plot is original, as far as I know. This is going to end up as a Sora/Riku slash (in case you couldn't tell). There will be foul language, sex and other fun things. I think the following chapters will be longer than this, except for a couple that take place in the Hundred Acre Woods. I'm going to try and update around once a month._


	2. Chapter 2: Memories: Replay

Kingdom Hearts: Sound of Destiny

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Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or the characters (except the ones I've made for this story), or the worlds originally created for Kingdom Hearts, in anyway, as Square Enix owns it. The worlds, and characters that belong to those worlds, appearing later in the story are owned by Disney.

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Chapter 2: Memories: Replay

It was like suffocating, that silence. The pressure, an urge to let his voice burst forth without thought, weighed against Riku's throat. If he woke up now and saw his room around him, he could sigh and continue on, not worrying. But he knew he was already awake, fully aware of the situation that he and his best friend now faced. Kairi was gone, again, and Riku could feel Sora's eyes watching his back, waiting for the darkness to come and engulf their world. The silver-haired boy couldn't blame him; he was waiting for it too. The similarities between this and two years ago were enough to shake Riku's last bit of self-trust.

His head swam with thoughts, trying to reason out what could've happened. _'Kairi wasn't here when I docked... She wasn't following me, was she? It's my fau-.' _Riku shook his head fiercely, forcing himself to stay above the black water.

It wasn't his fault; he'd only come to the island, like always... even if he had come earlier than would be considered decent. But...

Memories had been tingeing his dreams, taking the warm feeling he longed for each night as he went to sleep and draining the color, the heat, every pleasant sensation and leaving all of it grey, cold and sarcastic.

Her face, her determination... Her eyes, so blue and familiar... Watching those three on top of the clock tower, and wishing it was him and his friends making those memories...The mistakes he'd made before, and his attempt to atone for them... A slight twinge of guilt... For every good memory or thought that briefly lit his vision a dark thunderhead quickly rolled in and covered his mind in thick, black rain. Riku could not count the times he'd woken close to dawn, his breath shallow and his heart racing just as fast as it had been when he first lived through those events.

A hand against his shoulder stopped his mind and movements. Sora stood to his left, looking at him with a concerned expression playing on his face.

"You okay?"

Riku nodded and looked back towards the cave entrance.

Movement near the bottom of the entrance caught his eye, and Riku dropped down to examine the source: a piece of parchment caught among the vines. As he disentangled the crisp paper, his caribbean blue eyes scanned its surface. On one side was a drawing of a bell. Rather than a tongue in the center, a pale grey, inverted heart filled the hollow of the bell. A large three was printed in a Gothic style on the back. The older boy rose and turned to his companion, handing him the parchment.

"But, what's the point of a bell that can't make sound?" Sora asked after he had looked at the drawing for a long moment.

"What does the number three mean?" Riku countered. They stood in silence, each contemplating the parchment. "Well, whatever it means," Riku continued, "whoever left it behind must have Kairi. And we can find her." _'We __**have **__to find her,' _he thought, resisting saying it for fear of his voice betraying his nerves.

"You're right, Riku. But it's not just Kairi, they have," came a high, familiar voice.

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The rock wall of the cave was cool against Sora's back as he sat in the Secret Place. Neatly set out on the ground before him were three parchments, each numbered one to three, with the same bell on the other side. Directly in front of the papers stood King Mickey, with Riku kneeling by his side. The three of them had come into the cave when the winds had picked up, spraying mist from the waterfall onto them, and those parchments.

"So, what you're saying is that this group of.... ghost-things has Donald, Goofy, _and_ Kairi?" Sora questioned.

"Yes," the King replied, "and if I'm right, it's not just those three they want. They'll be traveling through other worlds, seeking out other strong souls."

"But, what do they want these souls for?" Riku inquired, collecting the parchments and handing them back to King Mickey.

"I don't know yet. But it will become clearer as we get closer to finding them."

"Well," Sora said confidently and determinedly, "I know where we should start." He walked to the door at the back of the cave and pushed it open. King Mickey immediately moved to the World Exit and walked through. Riku followed after a moment's hesitation, and Sora entered last, closing the door behind him.

The Gummi Ship was flowing through the stars, heading fast to Radiant Garden. The King was piloting, leaving Sora and Riku to man the lasers and cannons against the Heartless ships that came at them. Admittedly, the number of enemy ships was shockingly low, or so Sora thought, but what they lacked in quantity they more than compensated for in strength.

A large, deep red ship came into view just as the Gummi Ship lurched away from one of the structures that lined the pathways between worlds. The opposing vessel was round, with a belt of lengthy spikes around its middle, and several weapons protruding from its underside. As Sora locked onto the enemy, the spiked belt began to rotate and the ship drew closer to theirs. Sora let his laser fire, striking some of the weapons, at the same time that Riku fired the cannon. In the moment the red ship wavered from the blow it had taken, King Mickey maneuvered the Gummi Ship around it and increased their speed.

Sora could see a world growing closer as they flew; Radiant Garden was just ahead.

The city seemed to be thriving. People were walking between the shops, and stopping to talk with each other. Everywhere, there was something going on, and yet the air was calm. No sounds of Heartless battles or signs of Nobodies disturbing life perturbed the atmosphere.

Sora smiled as he looked around, thinking to himself that if he had to chose another place to live, it would be here.

The memories he had here were both pleasant and those not as much. Fighting Maleficent, meeting the Princesses of Heart, entering the computer and discovering Tron and his world, fighting along side his friends... These memories and more colored the way Sora saw this world, and he could no less deny its beauty than call the Destiny Islands his birthplace.

Sora looked at his companions: King Mickey was looking around the market, and Riku was shifting his weight from foot to foot, looking a little anxious.

"C'mon, he said, tugging at the hem of Riku's vest and nodding his head towards other end of the plaza.

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_'This was Hollow Bastion... This was where Maleficent.... Where everything.... Damn it!' _Riku felt his fists clenching painfully at his sides, fingernails digging into his palms.

He was walking a pace or so behind the other two, staring at the ground, willing it to ignite in front of him. If he could go back and change it, take back the decisions he'd made that had caused him to lose sight of what really mattered to him... He couldn't say he would ignore the opportunity.

"Well, well, well... It seems the Keyblade Master has dropped in."

He looked up to see Sora and the King stopped in front of a tall man. His brown hair fell down his shoulders, but spiked out at the ends. He wore a shirtsleeve black jacket with a white trim over a shirt, and dark pants.

"Hey, Leon," Sora said smiling at the man. "How're Yuffie and Merlin and Cid and Aerith?"

"Waiting for you at headquarters." Leon turned around and motioned for them to follow.

He led them into a one room house, where a group of people sat around a large computer monitor. Everyone turned towards them as the door closed behind Riku, and a rush of greetings flowed around the room.

Riku held back a little, looking around the room. Stacks upon stacks of books were piled around, and a bed was near the back. A globe stood near one pile of books. He noticed a podium in once corner, where a single book sat. When he was close enough to the book, he saw a picture of a teddy-bear on the cover, and a lock that held it shut. Curiosity perked, but not really intending to find out anything about the book just yet, he turned back to face the group that had now settled down near the large screen.

"You're friends have gone missing again?" asked a dark-haired girl. From what Sora had told him, Riku took her to be Yuffie.

He scanned the other faces, and put the names to each.

"Well, yeah. But this time, Kairi, Goofy and Donald are missing, but Riku is still here," responded Sora, gesturing towards Riku when he mentioned him. Riku's gaze became instantly trained on the floor as the others' gazes turned towards him.

"Any clue who's behind it this time?"

"Well... Sort of," said Mickey, as he pulled the parchments from his pocket. Each person took a turn examining the bell and the numbers. The parchments made their circuit and returned to the King. "We know that they are seeking souls for something. Strong souls."

"Well, I s'pose you'll be wantin' a Gummi Ship to borrow?" Cid said, looking directly at Sora.

"Um, what about the King's?"

"Sora..." the King began, sighing wearily, "I'm afraid this is another battle you'll have to fight without me. I have to learn everything I can about this new enemy so I can help you later, and I need to prepare the other worlds for what ever damage may come to them."

Riku nodded and smiled a little. Of course the King would be working separate from them. But that was okay...

Perhaps Riku could apologize to Sora once they were alone and working together, once he didn't feel like the King would be listening to him divulge the feelings he'd been keeping to himself.

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Sora stared out at the sky above Radiant Garden, watching the King's Gummi Ship grow smaller as it soared away. As soon as he could no longer see the ship, he turned back into Merlin's house. Everyone, minus Riku, was gathered around the monitor again, watching as Cid prepared the blueprints for their own Gummi Ship.

The silver-haired boy reminded Sora a little of Leon, being quiet and leaning against the wall, a little away from everyone else.

There were times when Sora found it hard to believe that a year separated them in age, and other times when it seem it had to be more than a year between them. He smiled a little to himself as he remembered playing on the island with Riku and Kairi. Those days would always be the ones Sora chose to describe his childhood.

Sora walked towards the back wall, near Pooh Bear's book, where Riku stood.

"Hey, Riku."

The older boy looked up, and opened his mouth to reply when Merlin spoke up instead.

"Now then, Sora. I'll need your help with something on this journey of yours. My world has been restored, and I've got a task ahead of me. A young lad will be coming under my care for an education, and I think you should be of some help with things. So, will you come to my world during your journey?"

"Um, yeah, sure," replied Sora, smiling. He honestly didn't know how he could help educate a boy when he was still being educated himself...

"Good. Seeing as my home, and the place that needs me most, is there, I'll be leaving this house for the use of the people here," Merlin added. The old wizard turned away from the teenaged boys and began talking to Leon.

Sora waited until he was sure Merlin was well involved in his conversation before turning his gaze back to his friend. It was impossible to ignore Riku's apparent attempts to blend into the wall, and Sora felt obligated to somehow stop the slow pigmentation change before the older boy completely vanished.

"Riku," he started again," d'you want to go buy some items before we set out?"

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Riku took his weight off the wall and headed towards the door, waiting for Sora to exit first. The two of them headed back towards the market in a silence that could easily have set the mood of a hearse. The older boy was reluctant to break the silence, and Sora's frequent concerned glances only played at his nerves more. He wasn't so much irritated as he felt like he'd just said he only had a week to live and no one knew how to act around him any longer, for fear of upsetting him.

"Well," he said as they neared the staircase that led back into the shopping district, "how much do we have?"

Sora counted out slightly less than a thousand munny, and looked sheepishly up at Riku. "Enough for some potions and a tent?"

Riku felt his nerves collapse a little, and he smiled at his friend. There was no way for him to completely hold himself together when he was with Sora, and he much preferred to give up his stoicism than fall to pieces in front of him.

"Okay, lets get what we can, then," he said, his voice somehow stronger than he was. The boys bought their munny's worth, and wandered around the other shops, noting accessories for later. A duck wearing a top hat waddled close to them, and Sora quickly wheeled around to call after him.

"Scrooge!" The duck looked back at Sora, and smiled at him.

"Ah, Sora m'boy," he said, a Scottish accent thick in his voice.

"Hey, Scrooge. This is my friend Riku." Again, Riku stared at the ground. "Oh, say, Scrooge, do you have any sea-salt ice cream?"

Riku looked up. Sea-salt...? Really? Well, it wasn't quite the way he'd wished for it, but.... "If you do, that would be great."

Directly posterior to Riku a small artificial waterfall-fountain murmered as he ate his ice cream. Sora sat on the bottom stair that led to the bailey, enjoying his own ice cream as they reflected on growing up on the islands. The things they'd noticed about friends, things that the others knew about them before they did, when revealed and remembered in a light and comfortable tone were just what it took to break the surface tension between them.

The silver-haired boy looked up from the ice cream stick he held and smiled, genuinely, at Sora. Perhaps he wanted to make up for lost time, but he wouldn't mind at all sitting here for a while longer and just eating ice cream with Sora. Anything that would allow comfort and time together would be desirable to him.

Quickly enough the sun had peaked and begun its descent into the afternoon. Ice cream finished and anticipation for the adventure forming, Sora and Riku walked back to what was once Merlin's house, now just headquarters.

"Well, boys," Cid said as soon as they entered the house," any time yer ready ta go, the ship's ready."

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_A/N: First of all, Happy Halloween, everyone! This chapter was kind of hard to write. I kept catching myself jumping ahead of where I want the characters right now, and what I want to write.... _

_There a couple of references in Riku's thoughts/memories to Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. I beat that game the other day, and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to use some of it here.... If you haven't gotten to play the game, or haven't gotten that far in yet, don't worry, only one small part mentioned here has anything to do with Riku. _

_I think the next chapter will be easier to write, mostly because it's the first world they're going to visit, and if I get stuck at all, I can always pop in the movie. _

_Thanks for reading! Hopefully my chapters will get longer...._


	3. Chapter 3: Colors of Sound

Kingdom Hearts: Sound of Destiny

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Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or the characters (except the ones I've made for this story), or the worlds originally created for Kingdom Hearts, in anyway, as Square Enix owns it. The world and characters of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" belong to Disney.

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_Chapter 3:Colors of Sound _

"Ugh..."

"Are you alright?"

"Wha...?" A gentle hand was brushing against Sora's face, and he could hear murmurs of people nearby before he opened his cobalt blue eyes. He pushed himself up, and felt that same gentle hand and its mate helping him to rest against a wall behind him. After a moment's delay, mostly to gain his bearings, Sora looked up and gasped.

A beautiful girl was smiling at him. Her dark hair and skin made her blue-green eyes seem rich and vibrant. "I'm Esmeralda," she offered, along with a hand to help Sora stand.

"I'm Sora." He looked around him, taking in stone and cobbled walls and streets. People walked by with a look of excited euphoria and anticipation, carrying trinkets and costumes and food in their arms, chatting happily with one another. Their clothing was nothing like what Sora usually wore, and he examined his own; a blue and red striped tunic and deep grey trousers had replaced his typical garments. As his gaze drifted back across the city, he felt a definite air of celebration there.

Reaching high above the other buildings were towers with stained glass, and ringing from within were the songs of bells. Sora's heart skipped a beat. Was there a chance...?

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" asked Esmeralda.

"Yeah... Um, I'm new to this city... What is that building?" A slight flush rose to his cheeks as he looked back at the girl. Well.... he couldn't quite call her a girl, she was at least five years older than he... But what mattered was the abashed feeling she instilled in him with her look of incomprehension.

"You don't know of Notre Dame? It's one of the greatest buildings in all Paris," she said. "A church, that serves as both sanctuary and prison for my people..." Her voice was darker when she spoke the addendum, almost angry.

Part of Sora wanted to outright question her, but he felt it would be better not to ask.

"Are you going to the Festival of Fools?" Sora gave her a confused look, and she smiled. "You can stay with me, from now until this afternoon, when the Festival starts."

From the stone wall on which Sora sat, he could see more of Notre Dame, and felt a strong admiration for the architecture. Stained-glass windows, high arches, gargoyles and other ornate decorations made the building exceptionally aesthetically pleasing. He wouldn't mind exploring the inward depths of the cathedral, but he preferred that the circumstances under which that exploration occurred were pleasant.

But, despite his interest in the church, he couldn't help but note the distinct lack of a silver-haired boy by his side... They had apparently been separated when they had disembarked from the Gummi ship, but as Sora had been knocked out almost immediately after that, he couldn't remember much of anything of the trip from Radiant Garden.

Below him Esmeralda was playing a tambourine as her goat, Jolly, leapt playfully to the music. Sora had discovered quickly that they, gypsies that they were, were highly despised by the city, but some people still gave them gold coins... He had to wonder if they only did it out of pity...

A blond man in golden armor leading a white horse, whose mane and tail were midnight black, had stopped before them and smiled broadly as he dropped several shining gold pieces into a tattered hat on the ground.

Perhaps they gave out of more than pity.... Entertainment? Sora shook his head and looked up to watch the soldier start his departure from them.

"Hey! Hold on a - What is that?"

A pair of silver armor clad guards came around a corner, and, reflexively, Esmeralda scrambled to grab the hat full of gold and make a run. Both guards fell backwards, their faces positively frightened as a group of Shadows and Gargoyle Knights drew closer.

Sora jumped down from the stone wall, landing purposefully between the guards and the Heartless. _'Even here...' _He summoned the Keyblade and attacked, eliminating the personifications of the darkness in people's hearts easily enough. One of the Gargoyles had managed to get a few shallow cuts on his arms, but it was nothing Sora felt the need to be concerned with. He turned to look at the guards, but they had run off. Esmeralda walked tentatively towards him, and smiled when she saw he was not severely harmed or transformed into a creature to fear.

The gold clad soldier was smiling at them, or rather, at Esmeralda, as he handed her the hat and scattered coins.

Esmeralda stared after the man as he made his through the city.

"Come on, Sora. It's almost time for the festival," she finally said once the slight shock had worn off.

* * *

Footsteps echoed through the stone halls of the tower, and there was a visible change in the air of the room. The gargoyles froze where they stood, and the Hunchback shoved Riku into a small room, supposedly a bedroom, and closed the door. The silver-haired boy leaned against the wall, his ear close enough to the small crack between the wooden door and the jamb.

"Good morning, Master." Quasimodo's voice was so submissive, nothing like moments ago when he'd been ready to leave his bell tower and join the festivities below.

"Come, Quasimodo, let us eat, and review your alphabet, shall we?" This man's voice was cold, harsh, unpleasant enough to drive anyone into hopelessness.

"Oh, yes, Master."

Riku listened as Quasimodo responded to the man's prompts, a word for each letter. What was this man doing to the Hunchback? These disapproving and punishing words...

"F?"

"Festival... Oh, I, I mean forgiveness." This had been a slip on his part, and there would be ramifications of some sort.

Sure enough, the harsh man scolded Quasimodo, and Riku could hear both men's footsteps as they walked to the balcony. The words were now inaudible, but there was no mistaking it; Quasi was being dissuaded. A knot was forming in Riku's throat again. He wanted to give this man his due. What right had he to fuck over Quasimodo's life just because he was different? It wasn't his fault that his genes had decided to get creative, and yet he was being punished as if he had broken a priceless sculpture.

"This is where you belong, Quasimodo."

"Yes, Master."

Riku waited until the footsteps died away again, and walked carefully out of the room. Quasimodo was perched on the balcony again, watching the preparations in the city below. Laverne, Hugo and Viktor, the gargoyles, were gathered around him, trying to comfort him by making light of the scene that had just played out. They were trying to reconvince him to join the party, and Riku gave his input as well.

"Quasimodo, I think it would be great for you to go the Festival of Fools. I'll go with you..." Riku smiled gently at the Hunchback, and handed him his dark blue cloak.

In the crowd were countless numbers of people dressed in bright colors and masks, jokers, performers, and a few men, soldiers, dressed in dull colors. One man, dressed in purple and yellow, with a Robin Hood style hat and a simple mask that covered his eyes was at the center of the crowd, obviously waiting for just the right moment to begin some grand expose...

The crowd erupted into song, one that they seemed to all know by heart, meant solely for this celebration.

_"Come one, come all! _

_Leave your loops and milking stools _

_Coop the hens and pen the mules _

_Come one, come all! _

_Close the churches and the schools _

_It's the day for breaking rules _

_Come and join the feast of ..." _

"Fools!" cried the purple and yellow Robin Hood with a grin befitting his joker themed appearance.

_"Once a year we throw a party here in town _

_Once a year we turn all Paris upside down _

_Ev'ry man's a king and ev'ry king's a clown _

_Once again it's Topsy Turvy Day _

_It's the day the devil in us gets released _

_It's the day we mock the prig and shock the priest _

_Ev'rything is topsy turvy at the Feast of Fools!" _

"Topsy turvy!" shouted the crowd. Everywhere, the people were dancing wildly, drinking and letting lose. Riku admired the spectacle, and only sort of noticed when the dark blue cloak beside him vanished.

_"Ev'rything is upsy daysy!" _

"Topsy turvy!"

_"Ev'ryone is acting crazy _

_Dross is gold and weeds are a bouquet _

_That's the way on Topsy Turvy Day." _

"Topsy Turvy!"

_"Beat the drums and blow the trumpets,"_ sung everyone with gusto.

"Topsy Turvy!"

_"Join the bums and thieves and strumpets _

_Streaming in from Chartres to Calais." _

_'Scurvy knaves are extra scurvy _

_On the sixth of "Januervy""_

"All because it's Topsy Turvy Day!"

_"Come one, come all! _

_Hurry, hurry, here's your chance _

_See the myst'ry and romance _

_Come one, come all _

_See the finest girl in France _

_Make an entrance to entrance _

_Dance la Esmeralda _

_Dance!" _

A dark girl appeared on the stage, dressed in a bright red dress, dancing freely.

* * *

Sora watched as Esmeralda danced on the stage. She was so confident in herself... Up and down, across the stage, she leapt onto a chair, in which sat a man dressed in black robes, with a black tricorne perched on his head. This man was pale, his face hollow, and seemed stuck between disgust and arousal. The gypsy girl bounded back to center stage, and was joined by Clopin, who was clad in purple and yellow. Sora had met him while Esmeralda was changing, and he found an enjoyment in the man's flamboyant behavior.

Clopin began to sing:

_"Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for _

_Here it is, you know exactly what's in store _

_Now's the time we laugh until our sides get sore _

_Now's the time we crown the King of Fools! _

_So make a face that's horrible and frightening _

_Make a face as gruesome as a gargoyle's wing _

_For the face that's ugliest will be the King of Fools! _

_Why?"_

"Topsy turvy!"

_"Ugly folk, forget your shyness,"_ called Clopin as he and Esmeralda pulled men in masks on to the stage.

"Topsy turvy!"

_"You could soon be called Your Highness!" _

_"Put your foulest features on display _

_Be the king of Topsy Turvy Day!" _

_"Ev'rybody!"_

Esmeralda and Clopin unmasked the men, and when their faces weren't ugly enough, the were knocked off the stage by Jolly. At the end, the reached a man who was bound to win. A gasp rippled through the crowd.

It wasn't a mask.

Clopin encouraged the crowd to remain calm, this was what they wanted; the ugliest face in all Paris!

_"Once a year we throw a party here in town." _

"Hail to the king!" called Clopin.

_"Once a year we turn all Paris upside down." _

"Oh, what a king!"

_"Once a year, the ugliest will wear a crown." _

"Girls, give a kiss!"

_"Once a year on Topsy Turvy Day." _

"We've never had a king like this," said Clopin cheerily.

_"And it's the day we do the things that we deplore _

_On the other three hundred and sixty-four _

_Once a year we love to drop in _

_Where the beer is never stoppin _

_For the chance to pop some popinjay _

_And pick a king who'll put the "top" in _

_Topsy Turvy Day! _

_Mad and crazy, upsy-daisy, Topsy Turvy Day!" _

A tomato soared through the crowd, smacking the Hunchback on his shoulder. Laughter erupted, and other people began throwing eggs and more tomatoes. Horror darkened the Hunchback's face as he was tied and tormented by this cruel crowd.

Silence fell over the plaza. Esmeralda walked up and knelt beside the ashamed man. Sora couldn't hear her words, but he knew she was murmuring apologies and comforts to him as she wiped the food from his face.

"Gypsy girl!" cried the man in black robes, "Stop at once!"

"As soon as you let him go, Lord Frollo."

"No."

Esmeralda scowled at the man, and withdrew a dagger, cutting the ropes from the Hunchback's body. A surge of guards stormed towards them. The dark girl seemed to consider her odds, and then vanished in a poof of smoke. However, the guards hadn't backed away from the Hunchback. Sora leapt across the stage and placed himself between the soldiers and the man. Beside him, a head of silver hair appeared.

* * *

The boys sat together in the bell tower. Quasimodo and Esmeralda were out on the balcony, debating something, it seemed. The gypsy girl had been given sanctuary by a gold armored soldier, but she seemed more upset about being trapped within the church than she was relieved to escape her death.

"Well, Sora..." began Riku, looking away from the balcony," enjoyed your stay in Paris?"

"It's been interesting. There are heartless here," said the spikey-haired boy.

"I know." They looked at each other, each one considering what was best to say next.

"I'm not leaving. At least, not until I can help Esmeralda."

Riku smirked. Sora was so stubborn... Once he was decided to do something, there was no changing his mind. That was one of Riku's favorite things about this boy...

Sunset was falling now, and the boys joined Qausimodo, Esmeralda and Jolly on the roof of the church.

"I'll help you," Quasi was saying to Esmeralda. Looking down, it was clear that the numerous guards below were waiting for a possible escape. Footsteps again began to sound up from the stairwell that led to the Hunchback's quarters.

"Quasimodo, you have to stay here," Riku said firmly. "I'll go with Esmeralda. You and Sora stay here. We'll come back later. I promise," he added when Sora gave him a concerned look.

Esmeralda handed Quasimodo a necklace, with a woven band dangling from it. "If you need sanctuary, you can find it. When you wear this woven band, you hold the city in your hand." She gently kissed the man's cheek, and turned back to Riku.

Riku held onto the gypsy girl, who clung fiercely to him and her goat, as they descended the side of the cathedral. They could hear the monks within singing hymns in Latin, which only increased the eerie atmosphere that filled the streets of an ever darkening Paris.

_"Confiteor Deo Omnipotenti _

_Beatae Mariae semper Virgini _

_Beato Michaeli archangelo _

_Sanctis apostolis omnibus sanctis". _

The sound died away as they snuck through the dark alleys of Paris. Esmeralda led the way from the heart of the city in silence. The darkness of the streets was unsettling, and Riku felt his heart jump when a small flock of Shadows appeared. He swiped through them and nearly bumped into his female guide. Haunting gates reached up before them, and beyond that was a graveyard.

Riku had never been much afraid of ghosts, so much as the people who lurked near graves at midnight... Esmeralda walked swiftly to a large monument, and slid the lid off. Stairs descended into the darkness, reaching into the depths of the graveyard.

Together they slipped in and closed the lid above them, and walked on.

"Esmeralda, what is this?"

"The Court of Miracles. A refuge for gypsies and the like. We are safe here."

At the bottom, past an expanse of sewage, they reached a large open room, in which a motley group of people was gathered. Among them was the yellow and purple Robin Hood. He strode towards them, and smiled at Esmeralda, though the smile was one that was not entirely friendly.

"Clopin," she started, watching as Jolly began to play with one of the children in the large room, "this boy helped me. Don't harm him." Clopin seemed to examine Riku, appraising his worth.

"I much preferred the other boy you had before the Festival," he said, smiling gayly at Riku. "But this one's fine."

Several times each day over the next couple days, Riku and Esmeralda ventured out into the city, disguised and sneaking, waiting for signs that it might be safe for them to return to Notre Dame. At first, there seemed to be little wrong in Paris, simply an increase in the number of guards. After these excursions, once they had returned to the old catacombs that was the Court of Miracles, Riku found himself divulging things to Clopin, mostly his own feelings and frustrations. The gypsy man would sit with him, grinning and listen to him, and once Riku had talked himself dumb, Clopin would offer a joke that contained some hint as to what he should do and heightened his mood.

On the third day, Riku and Esmeralda were watching as Frollo interrogated a family. A soldier dressed in gold armor, Phoebus, the one who had given Esmeralda sanctuary within the confines of Notre Dame, was standing aside, watching angrily as the judge threatened the family.

Riku looked away from Frollo, and saw, standing near the corner of the house, pale, nearly transparent man wearing silver robes. This man had deep, fiery eyes and ash colored hair. It looked as though his soul was burning, and his hair was the smoke, billowing out and up in all the hues of gray imaginable. The man smirked, and twitched his hand over a torch, igniting it.

Was this one of the new enemies?

The house was set on fire, and Riku saw the ghostly man vanish. Esmeralda, still under her cloak, rushed to save Phoebus, who had collapsed after extricating the family from within the house. Riku helped her carry the man, and together they turned towards the cathedral.

* * *

Sora and Quasimodo both jumped when Esmeralda called to them. Coming around the corner was the gypsy girl and Riku, loaded down with Phoebus.

"Quasimodo, can we please keep him here?" she asked delicately. There was a hint of guilt in her voice. Sora wondered if she knew how Quasimodo felt about her, but decided she must know. It was simply impossible to look at him whenever she was near and not see the heavenly glow that appeared behind his eyes.

The Hunchback's face fell, but he nodded. They placed Phoebus on the floor, and Sora walked to Riku, grabbing his arm. The older boy looked up from Esmeralda and Phoebus, and half smiled at him. Sora wanted to know where they had been for the last few days. He nodded towards the balcony, and they slipped out silently.

"Quasi likes Esmeralda, right?" Sora asked, not quite looking at his friend, feeling ridiculous asking a question with such an obvious answer.

"Yeah, but it looks like Esmeralda and Phoebus..."

Sora looked out across the Seine, remaining silent for a long moment. Love triangles like that were always unpleasant; someone always ended up hurt. Slowly, he tuned his gaze back at Riku, wondering how things would have turned out if either of them had started a relationship with Kairi... Which one would have been hurt more?

And would it have hurt?

Riku recounted to Sora the time he'd spent in the catacomb, and Sora looked at him when his voice hesitated. He seemed to be debating whether or not to say something, and then he continued on, apparently leaving his thought behind.

Above them the bells began ringing a mournful sound, and both boys sighed. Bells were no longer something they could enjoy; between the new force that had taken their friends using a bell as their symbol, and listening to Quasimodo ringing the bells of Notre Dame, both as his duty, and as a reminder of the death that Frollo had brought to the city, it was no longer a lovely, bright sound to hear.

"Sora," Riku said slowly, "I think I saw one of the people who took Kairi...."

Sora blinked, almost disbelieving what his friend had said, but upon watching Riku's face, he felt that there was nothing but truth behind those words.

And almost as if summoned, a hollow voice above said, "Yes, children, we do have your friends." Sora and Riku turned and gazed up near along the tower, where a

semi-transparent man was perched on a gargoyle's head. "And as you sit here, watching all Paris burn, we are gaining what we want."

"What do you want?" Riku inquired fiercely.

"Well, children, the chance to be whole. I hear many of your opponents simply wish to be whole... And you've greatly helped in weeding out the options." The man looked out at the smoke filled sky and grinned. "In fact, I think it's just about time..."

"Wait," Sora said tentatively, "what's your name?" _'Of all the stupid questions I could ask at a time like this, I chose to ask his name?'_ he scolded himself slightly. The mind doesn't always cooperate with what a person wants to know most when confronted with the opportunity to gain that knowledge, and Sora slightly resented that fact

The man smirked down at them, and vanished for a moment, before appearing close to Sora. He leaned in, his mouth uncomfortably close to Sora's ear. "Haitsuchi. Of the Unsound. Remember that, child, and perhaps I might remember you." A hot breeze caressed Sora's face, and the man was gone.

* * *

Esmeralda rushed past them, prepared to follow the escape route that she and Riku had taken before. She looked between the two boys and said quickly, "Frollo is coming. I have to get back to the Court of Miracles." Almost without thinking about it, she grabbed Sora's arm and the two descended the countenance of the cathedral.

Riku watched stunned for a moment, before turning to check for the wicked Judge. There seemed to be time, and so he dashed back into Quasi's sleeping room, sliding the door into place as the echoing sound of footsteps became audible once again. He could hear Quasimodo stumbling and fumbling about the room, trying to keep his master pleased, and again that sickened feeling struck Riku's stomach. Several times Phoebus almost gave himself away, but at last Frollo departed, his suspicions high but not confirmed.

Quasimodo, Phoebus and Riku were standing in the room, figuring out what to do next. They had to warn Esmeralda about Frollo's plan to attack, but Quasi and Phoebus were too busy arguing to listen to Riku. Both men wanted Esmeralda, and knew the other did as well, but neither was willing to admit that that was the source of their argumentative nature.

Quasi pulled out the band that the gypsy girl had given him, and murmured her clue to himself.

"It's a map!"

"What? That's not a map. I know what a map looks like, and that is not a map!"

If Riku had to endure one more minute of their relentless bickering, he might lose his marbles entirely.

"Oh, would you both just hold your tongues and listen to me?" he shouted over them, eliciting the response he desired: their silence. "I know where the Court of Miracles is. So, if you two would kindly let me take you there so you can help Esmeralda, and I can get Sora back, that would be spectacular."

Following the rough outline on the map, the silver-haired boy led the men through the streets, and to the graveyard, straight to the monument. Phoebus opened his mouth, ready to start talking like he knew what he was doing, but Riku held up his to silence him, before he shoved the lid off of the grave.

Through the sewage, Phoebus kept wondering why nothing had been set off yet, until the tunnel was suddenly pitch black, and there were hands seizing them.

Once there was light again, Riku looked around and saw the great room from the days he had spent there. A hangman's noose dangled in before him, and he felt his spine shiver. But just as the rope was being place over his head, it stopped. Clopin looked around from behind him, smiling as soon as he saw Riku's face. Clopin released the three of them just as Esmeralda and Sora emerged through the crowd.

"Listen, everyone!" cried Phoebus, gaining the attention of the raggle taggle group. "Frollo intends to attack this place at dawn! Everyone has to -

"Actually, Captain, I'm already here." A gasp swept over the crowd as Frollo appeared at the entrance into the room, surrounded by guards."Arrest them.''

Riku jumped from the gallows stand and grabbed Sora, dragging him away from the crowd, into a deep part of the catacombs.

"What are you-"

"Shh," Riku whispered forcefully, continuing to pull of the younger boy's arm until he was sure they were safe. "If we get arrested, then we can't save them. Sora, you said you weren't leaving until you helped Esmeralda, right?" The spikey-haired boy nodded, and Riku continued, "So, I'll do what it takes to help you do that. If it's important to you, I'll help you."

A part of him was demanding he remove the hand that had moved to Sora's face, but it remained there for a solid minute before either boy moved. Riku lowered his arm at the same instant that Sora took a retreating step from him. Riku sighed, and nodded farther down the tunnel they stood in. "I know a way out through here, let's go."

* * *

Hidden in the massive crowds that seemed to be typical for an event in Paris, Sora looked around and noted where the cages holding the gypsies were stationed. He had just slipped out of the cathedral, after unlocking the chains that had held Quasimodo, as well as the Hunchback's spirit, captive in the bell tower.

Now, on the very stage on which Esmeralda had danced for the Festival of Fools, she was tied to the stake, sentenced to burn. Sora looked around the pyre, and jumped a little as he saw Haitsutchi hovering near there. This mysterious man seemed to have an affinity for fire, based on Riku's recounting of the burning of the house.

At last Frollo stepped up to the pyre and declared the official reasoning for this gathering. Once he finished his declaration, he moved to grab a burning torch, but the fiery apparition waved his hand over the pyre, setting flames to the pile of wood at Esmeralda's feet. Baffled, but satisfied, Frollo simply tossed his torch on the fire. As he turned away, Sora smiled.

Quasimodo had scaled down the cathedral face and was leaping into the burning to save Esmeralda. Sora watched admiringly as the Hunchback carried the gypsy up to his tower and called for all Paris to hear

"Sanctuary!"

On cue, Sora unlocked the gypsies from their cages. Phoebus was rallying the crowd for their cause, and Riku was bounding towards the massive doors of Notre Dame. Sora joined him, and together they faced off against the crowd of soldiers that Frollo had dispatched after them. All this bloodshed over something so trivial as a gypsy girl...

Sparring with the guards alongside his silver-haired companion, Sora inwardly marvelled at all the trouble that had been caused by the mere presence and disapproval of a single, minority group of people. What mattered it if a person earned their money honestly, and in a manner above whoring oneself to the public. Dancing and playing music on the street, fortune telling, herbal remedies, everything these people did had no harm in the long run, and yet Frollo was determined to eliminate their existence, as though their being there threatened his piety . Perhaps by temptation, yes, but that was only part of being human.

The last soldier fell, and the two boys turned into the church. Running along the corridors and up the tower stairwell, they said nothing to each other, cutting down the shadows that appeared before them. Breathless, they reached the tower, where Quasimodo was tending to a paled and unresponsive Esmeralda.

His face fell, and he placed the girl's limp hand on her chest. Silently he walked to the balcony and stared at the burning city before him.

"Well, Quasimodo," came Frollo's cruel voice from behind all of them. The three of them turned to gaze at the unforgiving man. "I hope you see now what I mean. The world is cruel and wicked. And all Paris burning because of you."

Something within the Hunchback visibly snapped, and he erupted. "Everything you've ever told me has been a lie! The only thing cruel and wicked in this world are people like you! I've had enough!" He leapt for the man whose trust had been lost, trashing at him violently. Sora and Riku jumped in. This man may not have been the one who had taken something precious from them, but he had drawn such evil to this place that it felt justified to them. Bringing to Paris the Heartless, drawing this man who called the group to which he belonged "the Unsound", and attempting a holocaust within the population simply because the people weren't conformists, all of this fed into the power behind each strike from the attackers.

The fight led them back onto the balcony, and it ended when Frollo was sent into the burning hellfire in the city below.

Esmeralda appeared behind them, as did Phoebus. Sora waited for Quasi's face to fall again, waited for something to show that he was still himself. The Hunchback smiled with acceptance at the two before him, joining their hands and turning back out the balcony. The smoke from the pyre was fading, and with it went the life that Quasimodo had so long been forced to live in hiding.

The five of them walked down to the main cathedral, silently, but happily. There was simply no need for words anymore. Sora and Riku emerged through the doors first, greeted by cheers. The cheering increased at Phoebus and Esmeralda, whose hands were still entwined. Quasimodo hesitated, but slowly came from the shadows.

Silence fell over the crowd, and they watched as a little girl done what so few, most of them standing on the cathedral steps now, had dared to do. She held the Hunchback's face, and smiled at him. As the crowd returned to it's previous excitement, Sora tugged at Riku's tunic.

"I guess we can go now, huh?" he said smiling at the older boy. Riku nodded, and together, they headed to where the Gummi Ship awaited.

* * *

_A/N: Omigosh. It's done. I got this done faster than expected, but it still felt like it took so damn long. The title of this chapter comes from the song "The Bells of Notre Dame" from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" movie. Who would've guessed? _

_I watched the sunrise out the window this morning, and I realized that I've been up for almost 24 hours with no sleep. It's been a while since I've done that, since I tend to get cranky. :P But the whole sunrise thing made me really want there to be a sort of "new day" beginning that's still in the darkest part of the dawn. Anyway, thanks for reading, as always, and I hope you enjoyed! _


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